Tag: refugees

WORLD REFUGEE DAY John Feffer has some thoughts about how the world is treating refugees on World Refugee Day: This week, as the international community marks World Refugee Day, 22.5 million people have fled their countries to seek refuge elsewhere. In 2016, a mere 189,000 were resettled. That’s less than 1 percent. It’s as if … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: June 20 2018

ASIA KAZAKHSTAN The chair of Kazakhstan's Senate (who functions sort of as a vice president), Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, told the BBC on Wednesday that incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev will not stand in the country's 2020 election. Considering that Nazarbayev has been Kazakh president since 1990, that's kind of a big deal if true. Tokayev stressed that he was only expressing … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: June 20 2018

SYRIA The escalation in government bombardments in southwestern Syria reportedly has the Jordanian government concerned. Amman would desperately like to see its main border crossing with Syria reopened to facilitate commercial traffic, but it wants a peaceful solution to the situation to avoid either a new influx of displaced Syrians heading for the Jordanian border … Continue reading Middle East update: June 20 2018

SYRIA Airstrikes on the village of Zardana, in Idlib province, on Thursday reportedly killed at least 44 people. Syrian rebel media sources are accusing Russia of carrying out the strikes, but Moscow is denying it. It seems like it would be odd for the Russians (or the Syrian government, for that matter) to attack a target … Continue reading Middle East update: June 8 2018

SYRIA The Iraqis conducted another airstrike against ISIS in Syria on Thursday. This time they struck an alleged ISIS command and control building in the town of Hajin, in Deir Ezzor province. This is at least the second time the Iraqis have bombed Hajin in the past 2-3 weeks. Meanwhile, during his annual Telethon For Motion … Continue reading Middle East update: June 7 2018

SYRIA US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu have reportedly reached agreement on a "roadmap" for the Kurdish-occupied Syrian town of Manbij after a meeting in Washington on Monday. It's unclear what exactly the roadmap entails beyond a phased YPG withdrawal from Manbij--it's hard to imagine Turkey agreeing to anything less--with … Continue reading Middle East update: June 4 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN A Taliban suicide attack against an army base in Helmand province on Sunday killed at least two Afghan soldiers. On Saturday, Afghan authorities opened a 12 day period to register candidates for parliamentary and district council elections this October. This vote is three years overdue and still may be disrupted by the Taliban … Continue reading Asia/Africa update: May 26-27 2018